Rooney Mara insisted on wearing a strawberry blonde pubic wig for her role as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo because the heroine of the story was a red head in author STIEG LARSSON's books.

The brunette admits she came up with the idea of matching her hair color to that of her literary character because she wanted Salander to look just like the girl in the book trilogy.

Mara explains, "I had to wear a merkin... They didn't ask me to but I'm naked so much in it (movie) I wanted one. It felt like a little fur bikini... and I had them make it strawberry blonde."

The actress kept the merkin after the film wrapped and has it at home.

Photo Credits: PacificCoastNews.com

Sign up for our daily newsletter with great stories like this and more!